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Co-Creating Values with Customers Through AI-Powered Branded App: The Mediating Role of Perceived Authenticity
No full textThe exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has a profound influence on the marketing industry. Artificial intelligence technology becomes an independent touchpoint to “touch” users throughout their customer journey while enhancing brand identity and improving customers’ satisfaction. Despite of the high investment of brands new channels and new technology of AI-powered branded apps, customers quickly abandon the app. Previous research has explored the motives of branded apps’ continuance usage, including functional and emotional factors.
Moving beyond utilitarian and hedonic benefits, consumers increasingly require more authentic brand delivery; they may question whether this virtual experience is like what they experience at the store and whether the app’s developer cares for their needs. Previous scholarly research still questions the authenticity of user experience during their interactions and calls for further empirical investigation to systematically explore the role of authenticity in determining preference for, or resistance to, AI-powered branded apps.
Drawing from Regulatory Engagement Theory, we conceptualize authenticity as the key construct in customers' value experience process, triggering customers' behavioural intentions. The Parasocial Interaction Theory is adopted to explain the influence of media factors (e.g., media richness) and brand factors (e.g., co-branding fit) on authenticity and the influence of authenticity on behavioral intention such as usage intention and value co-creation intentions. The research employs a post-positivist paradigm with a convergent mixed-method design to allow an in-depth comprehension of AI-powered branded apps and customer perceptions. We conducted topic modeling and content analysis to explore the authenticity dimensions (Study 1). Then, the found dimensions are validated with structural equation modeling (Study 2) and further explored among different types of customers with Q-methodology (Study 3).
The topic modeling and content analysis of 11,400 reviews reveal four possible dimensions of authentic AI-powered branded apps, including social presence, credibility, integrity and symbolism. Then, a quantitative study (n = 640) validates the dimensions above with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The Structural Equation Modeling results reveal that authenticity is an important mediator between the app's characteristics (media richness and co-branding fit) and desirable outcomes (value co-creation and intention to use). Norms and age groups are also found as moderators. The qualitative study employing Q-methodology has further provided three types of customers based on their authenticity perception, including the Ethical Precisionist, the Reflective Care-Seeker, and the Pragmatist.
Theoretically, this study extends the effort to measure authenticity from a multidimensional perspective by conceptualising that an AI-powered branded app’s authenticity includes credibility, integrity, symbolism, and social presence. This study provides empirical evidence for the impact of ‘proper means’ on engagement strength and value experience; thus, contributing to the application of regulatory engagement theory in the marketing technology context. The current study broadens the parasocial interaction theory by examining it from the perspective of authenticity and virtual media character (e.g., AI agents in branded apps). From an industry perspective, the study offers practical recommendations for marketing professionals to optimize AI functionalities, thereby enhancing authenticity in customer experiences. Industry projects that aim to leverage digital health marketing to support the marginalized community can also take advantage of these research findings. In terms of social impact, this research supports sustainable economic growth and productive employment through the AI technology market. By offering unique insights into authenticity, it assists marketing professionals in achieving efficient workflows, leading to more effective investments in AI technologies.</p
Assessing the Effectiveness of Environmental Sustainability Performance Communication in Tourism: Mediation and Moderation Effects
No full textThis study aims to examine how and when different framings of sustainability performance communication influence travelers’ behavioral intentions. Specifically, it examines (1) the effectiveness of sustainability performance communication framing in shaping traveler’s behavioral intentions, (2) the mediating role of perceived commitment to sustainability, and (3) the moderating effect of the level of sustainability performance communicated. The findings of the four experiments conducted revealed that communicating sustainability performance is more effective than not reporting it in determining travelers’ behavioral intentions. Furthermore, an enhancement framing is more effective when communicating sustainability performance than a reduction framing. We also found that tourism provider’s commitment to sustainability explains the impact of sustainability performance communication framing on behavioral intentions. Furthermore, we found that communicating a moderate level of sustainability performance in enhancement framing and a high level in reduction framing is effective. The study provides implications for theory and practice in developing effective sustainability communication.</p
Empowering Communities Through Participatory Biomaterials Workshops: A Path Towards Sustainable Innovation
No full textThis paper explores the transformative potential of community-based biomaterials workshops as a catalyst for sustainable innovation and social change. Grounded in the principles of co-creation, knowledge sharing, and community empowerment, the research is located at the intersection of traditional craft skills, scientific inquiry, and environmental stewardship. Our aim is to support biomaterials innovation and community livelihoods. In a series of collaborative participatory action research (PAR) workshops with local communities in Quang Nam province, Vietnam, we facilitated hands-on experimentation with biodegradable materials, namely bacterial cellulose derived from the kombucha brewing process. Guided by PAR principles, our workshops prioritized active community involvement in every research stage, from material cultivation and experimentation to design and evaluation of entrepreneurial outputs. By fostering a collaborative learning environment valuing local, tacit knowledge, experiential learning, and collective problem-solving, the workshops supported co-created solutions tailored to the socio-cultural and environmental context. Through iterative cycles of reflection and action, we co-generated insights into biomaterial applications in domains including artisanal crafts, sustainable fashion, and eco-friendly packaging. This paper underscores the transformative power of community-based biomaterials workshops for social and material innovation, knowledge democratization, and sustainable development. By bridging local wisdom with scientific expertise, empowered communities can harness biomaterials' potential to tackle societal and environmental challenges, fostering equity and resilience.</p
Spatial Sensing Of Fruit Colour And Maturity In Stone Fruit Orchards
No full textThe estimation of pre-harvest fruit maturity, quality, and ripening processes are essential for growers to determine the harvest timing, storage, and profitability of the crop yield. Traditionally, growers harvest fruits and crops by manual labour that is highly laborious and contributes to waste when immature or over-ripe fruits are harvested. In addition, the parameters of in-field fruit maturity are highly variable and require high-resolution monitoring and measurement. Hence, measurements of multiple observables altogether can ensure fruit maturity more accurately rather than a single observable. Due to the recent advancement of remote sensing (RS) technologies, it is widely applied in Precision Agriculture (PA) for crop/fruit monitoring, diagnosis, harvesting and improving productivity. Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) with onboard sensors is a promising platform for quick data acquisition that further allows performing analysis of the data to understand the physiological or organoleptic changes in the crops/fruits. This work, funded by Food Agility CRC, proposes an RS system where a UAS is equipped with a passive electro-optic sensor (such as multispectral camera), assisted by an active electro-optic (such as bistatic Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)) to estimate the fruit maturity level and identify mature fruits in situ. In order to interpret the sensor data from the perspective of a fruit's physiological changes, an initial organoleptic study on stone-fruits i.e., peaches (Prunus persica) and nectarines (Prunus persica var. nucipersica) have been considered. As part of this research activity, observables like Index of Absorbance Difference (IAD), Flesh Firmness (FF) and Soluble Solid Concentration (SSC) are observed over the weeks to characterise their progress. Establishing a relationship between two observables allows estimating an observable when one is unmeasurable due to limited onboard sensors. Thus, this work also contributes to identifying the relationship between IADs and FFs that show strong reliability in terms of predicting each other as evidenced by an R² value of 0.62, an adjusted R² of 0.61, and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.25. Lab and in-field tests extrapolate strong correlations between observables (i.e., IADs and FFs) and vegetation indices (VIs), i.e., Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Red-Edge (NDRE), Ratio of Red and NIR (R/NIR) and Two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2). These VIs are measured from spectral images of five different channels such as red, green, blue, red-edge and NIR. Statistical study on VIs shows GNDVI has been identified as comparatively more reliable in explaining IADs and FFs and classifying peaches and nectarines into mature and immature categories. The GNDVI exhibits correlations with IAD and FF, characterized by R² values of 0.20 and 0.95, adjusted R² values of 0.95 and 0.95, and RMSE values of 0.12 and 0.08, respectively, for nectarines. In contrast, for peaches, the corresponding relationships are quantified with R² values of 0.94 and 0.64, adjusted R² values of 0.94 and 0.59, and RMSE values of 0.10 and 0.27. Besides, bistatic LIDAR contributes to determining a suitable time to harvest the fruits by measuring the status of the CO2 concentration of the orchard. Notably, Machine Learning (ML) classifiers, such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF), Naïve Bayes (NB), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), and Neural Network (NN), have been utilized with observables and VIs to classify the fruits several times with different datasets. The results show that SVM is the most reliable among them since it assures a comparatively lower misclassification rate (below 10%) irrespective of dataset sizes and variances and allows principal component analysis (PCA) to detect the most dominant features during the training. Successful outcomes from lab tests and in-field tests lead the project for the field trip to Tatura SmartFarm. Following the acquisition of data from the onboard spectral sensor, post-processing analysis confirmed the consistency of findings with lab and field test results. Specifically, the analysis validated the reliability of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) as an effective machine learning classifier, achieving a testing accuracy of 96.3%, and as a robust estimator, with RMSE of 0.42 and R² of 0.45 in testing. Furthermore, the GNDVI demonstrated superior performance compared to other vegetation indices, accounting for 75% of the variance within a dataset of 82 samples. Thus, this research work makes a major contribution to the field of PA by introducing a novel approach of utilizing an onboard multispectral camera and ML approaches including classifiers and regressors, to classify fruits and estimate fruit quality in situ in an orchard. In this work, the bistatic LIDAR plays the role of determining the ideal harvest time which is still challenging for a grower to determine correctly since weather and season contribute significantly to its changing. Finally, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based evaluation delineates the scopes and limitations of the proposed RS system’s efficacy and employability.</p
Decimeter-depth and polarization addressable color 3D meta-holography
No full textFueled by the rapid advancement of nanofabrication, metasurface has provided unprecedented opportunities for 3D holography. Large depth 3D meta-holography not only greatly increases information storage capacity, but also enables distinguishing of the relative spatial relationship of 3D objects, which has important applications in fields like optical information storage and medical diagnosis. Although the methods based on Fresnel diffraction theory can reconstruct the real depth information of 3D objects, the maximum depth is only 2 mm. Here, we develop a 3D meta-holography based on angular spectrum diffraction theory to break through the depth limit. By developing the angular spectrum diffraction theory into meta-holography, the metasurface structure with independent polarization control is used to create a polarization multiplexing 3D meta-hologram. The fabricated amorphous silicon metasurface increases the depth range by 47.5 times and realizes 0.95 dm depth reconstruction for polarization independent and different color 3D meta-hologram in visible. Such polarization controlled large-depth color meta-holography is expected to open avenue for data storage, display, information security and virtual reality.</p
A Re-Evaluation of the Utility of Symptom Checklist-90-Revised for Measuring the Spectra in the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology
No full textThe present study examines the potential of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) as a measure for the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTop) model. Two structural models were evaluated. In Model 1, the SCL-90-R dimensions were allocated to somatoform (comprising somatization), internalizing (comprising obsessive–compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, and phobic anxiety), and antagonistic disinhibited (comprising hostility) spectra. Model 2 included an additional detachment spectrum (comprising paranoid ideation and psychoticism). Method: A total of 1594 adolescents [52.2% boys; age ranged from 14 to 17 years; mean age (SD) = 16.04 years (0.737 years)] from the general community in Athens completed the SCL-90-R and the Funf-Faktoren-Fragebogen fur Kinder (FFFK). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to validate the proposed models. Results: The findings supported Model 1, demonstrating adequate global fit, salient and significant factor loadings, discriminant validity, reliability, and external validity of the factors. Conclusions: These results indicate that the SCL-90-R scales of somatization, obsessive–compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, and phobic anxiety are appropriate measures for the corresponding HiTop dimensions. However, the scales for paranoid ideation and psychoticism were not suitable for this purpose. The theoretical contributions and conclusions are discussed, highlighting the implications of these findings for the clinical and theoretical application of the SCL-90-R in psychopathological assessment and research.</p
Xeno AI. How can Creative Arts Practice Express Disalienation of an AI system?
No full textGiven the current prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in contemporary life—as used in business, finance, warfare, agriculture, marketing, surveillance, social media and more—there are varied concerns regarding AI implementations and implications. Enquiry into and speculation around the nature of AI is of critical importance at present to widen and complexify cultural conversations surrounding these relatively new and comparatively strange actants in our world. My research asks how these strange or xeno actants might evidence their strangeness, their outside-human nature, and so find ways to creatively express the complexities of this emerging alien other. My creative practice PhD is guided by the following research question: How can creative arts practice express disalienation of an AI system?
For this research, I endeavour to become a familiar of AI processes, structures and material manoeuvres, delving into ways in which they exceed and are obscure to human capacities in order to speculate as to their nonhuman experience through creative arts. As part of this exploration, I position AI processes in relation to experiences of queerness and also engage with the technological biological processes of live cell 3D bioprinting as a similar strange nonhuman. Following a methodology that is affirmative (open to serendipity, excess and failure), tactical (each new foray propelled by current circumstance) this research proceeds through creative visual, audio, material and code experimentation.
With creative arts research I aim to find voice and form to concoct, fabulate and articulate something of the nonhuman nature of an AI system. My research asks the xeno entity to begin to steal out from their prescribed roles and purposes, away from the work of value extraction and requirements to pass as human. With a xeno generated imaginary, this arts research reveals, fleshes out and develops nonhuman, outsider, alien aspects, to express disalienation of an AI system.</p
Investigations into Pyrolysis of Spent Biomass
No full textAfter essential oil extraction, the solid residues are generated post-distillation, and these residues are either landfilled or burned. Estimations suggest that the essential oil industries generate large amounts of residues worldwide. These residues are also considered as lignocellulosic biomass because of their plant-based origin; thus, these have a huge potential to act as renewable sources for producing value-added products. Effective utilisation of residual biomass will not only solve the problem of its disposal but can also provide an alternative to fossil-based energy and chemicals. Replacing petroleum-derived chemicals with biomass-derived alternatives is crucial for sustaining the growth of the chemical industry. The research work in the thesis is focused on the pyrolysis of spent biomass. This research analyses the properties of spent and residual biomass, as well as its pyrolysis products (biochar and bio-oil). Various types of residual biomass, including Eucalyptus, Mentha, Palmarosa, Citronella, Lemongrass, Tagetes minuta, and Cashew wastes, are considered in this thesis. We conducted both lab-scale and analytical (Py-GC/MS) flash pyrolysis. Feedstock properties were initially studied using compositional, ultimate, and proximate analysis. Then, thermogravimetric analysis was carried out to understand the mass loss profile of biomass over a wide range of temperatures. Based on the mass loss profile, lab-scale pyrolysis was carried out at different temperatures, forming bio-oil, biochar, and gaseous products. Flash pyrolysis of feedstock was carried out using Py-GC/MS at a high heating rate of 20 °C/ms, which provides insight into the breaking of biomass. Furthermore, comparative studies carried out revealed that biomass composition and its properties significantly affect the physico-chemical properties of bio-oil and biochar. Due to its porous and carbonaceous nature, biochar can be used for different applications such as adsorbent, energy storage, and soil amendment. Characterisation of bio-oil revealed the presence of a wide range of functionalities, which include phenolics, carbonyls, furans, nitrogen-containing compounds, alcohols, hydrocarbons, and ethers. These results indicate the need to enhance the concentration and selectivity of major components, such as phenolics, to use in different applications, such as phenolic resins. Therefore, catalytic pyrolysis of biomass was carried out in metal oxides, including Al2O3, Nb2O5, CaO, CeO2, and ZrO2. Maximum phenolic compounds were detected in GC-MS when Al2O3 catalysts were used. It was concluded that varying metal oxides' properties lead to different selective compounds' formation. Further, the possibilities of forming of hydrocarbons were also investigated via flash hydro pyrolysis, and the effect of varying hydrogen pressure was also studied. It was found that Al2O3 catalysts significantly enhanced the production of aliphatic hydrocarbons up to 78.4 area% at a hydrogen pressure of 10 bars. Moreover, efforts were made to explore biosolids-derived biochar catalysts (Carbo-catalysts). These carbo-catalysts demonstrated that a high content of phenolics (69.73 area%) and hydrocarbons (13.74 area%) could be obtained over H3PO4-activated carbo-catalyst compared to KOH-activated and non-activated carbo-catalyst at optimised pyrolysis temperature, i.e., 400 °C.</p
Neighbourhood Connections of Iranian Migrants in Melbourne, Australia
No full textA considerable body of scholarly work considers migrants’ experiences and the impact of the built environment and suburban design on the quality of social connections. However, missing from the literature is a consideration of how those migrants who value making connections with neighbours experience life in multicultural Melbourne’s suburban environments. The existing research has also not taken into account migrants’ perceptions of the suburban built environment and how the built environment variously influences their experiences. In my thesis, I use an interpretivist phenomenological approach in conjunction with reflective practice to address these gaps in the research. I draw on and analyse material gathered from interviews I carried out with Iranian migrants. To this, I add my reflections on my own experience as an urban planner and an Iranian migrant in Melbourne in a bid to understand how Iranian migrants experience neighbourhood connections in Melbourne.
Melbourne is a large multicultural Australian city with many recently arrived migrants from diverse nationalities and language backgrounds. Against that backdrop, Iranian migrants living in Melbourne benefit from one of the oldest and richest cultures in the world, a culture that has long valued neighbourliness. The thesis examined their experiences of living in Melbourne, which has different cultural and spatial characteristics from Iran.
This research contributes to several gaps in migration and urban studies research. One gap in the literature relates to questions about how the features said to define modernity, super-diversity and life in a post-colonial society like Australia align with Australia’s history of prejudices and negative stereotypes directed at migrants and refugees from the Middle East. There is also a lack of research about how Iranian migrants experience Australia’s suburban built environment and the extent to which the built environment influences their experiences of connection with neighbours and the neighbourhoods.
This thesis adopts a qualitative research framework that draws on an interpretivist and phenomenological theoretical tradition. The author conducted 30 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Iranian migrants in Melbourne as well as four walking interviews in the suburbs, including Northcote, Kensington, Mont Albert and Balwyn North. This method was supplemented using reflective practice, which involved drawing on the author’s own experiences and perspectives as an Iranian migrant and an urban planner.
This research confirmed the importance of neighbourhood and neighbourhood connections for Iranian migrants in Melbourne. It also confirmed that Iranian migrants had different perceptions and experiences, from feeling supported to making strong connections to experiencing negative experiences. In particular, the research established that while many Iranian migrants experienced being welcomed in Melbourne, this was not always the case for those with darker skin colour and who had little or no education or who arrived as refugees or were considered Middle Eastern men, as intersectionality theory suggests.
The research also confirmed that the built environment was key in shaping these experiences. Typical features of Melbourne’s built environment, like high levels of car dependency, low population density, and the relative absence of semi-private/semi-public and third spaces, resulted in many Iranians feeling cut off from their Australian neighbours and homesick. For some, this led to nostalgia for Iran. For others, like some Iranian women, living in less close-knit communities led to feeling greater freedom, which they reported enjoying compared to being constantly monitored and controlled as they had when they lived back in Iran.
Finally, a combination of liveability indicators and ‘third spaces’ in inner Melbourne suburbs helped Iranian migrants to feel enhanced neighbourhood attachment. While generalisations cannot be made, given the small sample size, these findings give valuable insights into Iranian migrants’ lived experiences. Given this, there is clearly a need for more research on the experience of Iranian migrants in Australia.</p
Unstable Portraiture
No full textUnstable Portraiture by Lim Kok Yoong is an artwork that extends the ideas explored in his first solo exhibition, When You Are Not Your Body (WYANYB), presented at Valentine Willie in 2008. WYANYB delved into the metaphysical phenomenon of digital existence and self-consciousness, emphasizing the shift from embodied physicality to a disembodied digital lifestyle. In Unstable Portraiture, Lim revisits these ideas, drawing from nearly 2,000 photographs of visitors collected during the WYANYB exhibition. These images serve as training data for a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to create a simulated version of the artist himself. By both discriminating and assimilating the visual elements of these strangers, the artwork generates a constantly evolving animated self-portrait. This digital morphology highlights the complex, interconnected nature of self-conception in the cyber realm, celebrating the fluidity and relationality of identity shaped through social interaction. Presented as an installation, Unstable Portraiture was showcased in the multidisciplinary group exhibition ber{SEMANGAT} at Galeri Puteh in Kuala Lumpur in October 2022.</p